[Saoshyant]

The best feature of my house is it has a beautiful porch and patio, its the only reason I'm even considering an e12 over a magni or vali. That and I go for long walks

 

[MrMateoHead]

The best feature of my house is it has a beautiful porch and patio, its the only reason I'm even considering an e12 over a magni or vali. That and I go for long walks

Well, I can promise you that the O2 drives the HE-400s hard and, with charged batteries, will last longer than your walk.

I'd just use a compact Mp3 player or cell phone as the DAC and music library for long walks. Or a tablet. All my 2013-ish devices sound awesome if a tad less visceral than my better gear. Device -> O2 -> HE-400 = awesome.
 
Only downside is the O2 isn't as sexy. But the E12 and O2 both have about the same amount of power so I think there is an E12 in your future.

 

[Saoshyant]

My portable sources are my phone and a rockboxed clip, not perfect but certainly proven

 

[MrMateoHead]

^^^^^ Well, I don't know what your phone is, but I got a Lumia 520, and its great SQ-wise. The Clip is also great, I've used many of those.

 

[Saoshyant]

Currently it's a S4, bit might be changing to a moto x

 

[electrolover]

Has anyone tried the Headstage Arrow amps with the HE-400?
Came across this product by chance and I'm intrigued by it. I was unable to find out what the maximum output power is so I'm not sure if it can drive orthos with enough energy..

 

[Drsparis]

Has anyone tried the Headstage Arrow amps with the HE-400?
Came across this product by chance and I'm intrigued by it. I was unable to find out what the maximum output power is so I'm not sure if it can drive orthos with enough energy..

Haven't had time to test it out, I'll let you know when I get home from work!

 

[Drsparis]

Oh yes, the arrow gives out more than enough energy to the HE400. It has 3 gain settings(1.2, 10.5 and 20.9dB) and 3 impedance settings(10, 70 and 120 Ohms). With the impedance and gain set to level 1, the max volume is just over comfortable listening levels. There is a lot of room for more volume and more atenuation (I've always found the impedance settings to remove some body/sparkle to the music. This might actually be good for people who find the cans too bright. )

 

[MattTCG]

Head-direct has just reduced the price of the he400 and 500 for those who didn't see it.
 
http://head-direct.com/Products/?cid=8

 

[justin w.]

News to me...give me 15 minutes..

 

[MattTCG]

Sorry I typed headamp originally and then edited for head direct. My bad Justin.

 

[electrolover]

Wow, $300... that's the absolute best value for a hi-fi headphone!
This has been said many times of course, but major respect to HiFiMan for producing an affordable magneplanar headphone.
I'm loving my HE-400 more and more each day

 

[electrolover]

Oh yes, the arrow gives out more than enough energy to the HE400. It has 3 gain settings([COLOR=192739]1.2, 10.5 and 20.9dB)[/COLOR] and 3 impedance settings(10, 70 and 120 Ohms). With the impedance and gain set to level 1, the max volume is just over comfortable listening levels. There is a lot of room for more volume and more atenuation (I've always found the impedance settings to remove some body/sparkle to the music. This might actually be good for people who find the cans too bright. )

Would you say that it can sound just as loud as a desktop amp?
I never owned a headphone amp (portable or not) and knowing that my laptop puts out a really weak signal I just want to be sure I won't have this issue with it, because I was unable to find out what is its maximum output power at 32Ohms.

 

[justin w.]

  Sorry I typed headamp originally and then edited for head direct. My bad Justin.

 
oh, i never saw it when you said HeadAmp. if this is a price drop, i wasnt informed, but i went ahead and adjusted the HeadAmp.com pricing for the HE-400 and HE-500 to $299 and $599
 
My guess is that this pricing is a Chinese New Year sale and not intended for the U.S. market

 

[MattTCG]

^^ You may be right. My guess was that it was because of new models coming out. If you're right I wish that the new models were out now so that I could pounce on the discount.